


And My Heart Went: Boom

by tearyeyed_somethingorother



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Deaf Character, Disabled Character, F/F, and refusing to seek help when she clearly needs it, au where catra goes deaf from the force of the heart of etheria, catra and entrapta solidarity, catra being a dumbass, deaf catra, im just desperate for representation and a simp for catra ok?, im not deaf i use asl for processing reasons, immediately post heart: pt 2, please please please tell me about any cultural inaccuracies, she-ra cant heal it because Reasons, thank you!!!, those reasons being that i hate the trope of absolutely NEEDING to heal disabilities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24923947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tearyeyed_somethingorother/pseuds/tearyeyed_somethingorother
Summary: She-Ra is a being of pure magical energy, but she's not invincible, and she surely can't make everyone else around her invincible either. So, when all the magic from the Heart of Etheria thunders through Catra and Adora's bodies, Catra can't be surprised when the experience leaves her physically less than unscathed, but this experience is new. The ringing, the disorientation. But Adora is smiling up at her like all the stars are gone again and they've traveled to Catra's eyes, and she can't ruin this moment by making it all about her, can she? This can wait. Maybe it'll just go away...
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 75





	And My Heart Went: Boom

**Author's Note:**

> Just sliding in here to disrupt the narrative that having healing magic means that disabilities no longer exist! She-Ra has really had a positive impact for me, seeing both chronically ill and neurodivergent characters embrace their disabilities, and I am here to just purely self indulge with some minor angst. Thank you for indulging with me!!

"Don't you get it? I love you! I always have!

So please, just this once stay!

Stay..."

Catra startled as a shield appears briefly behind her back for a moment, and Adora stirs in her arms. "You love me?"

She can't help but chuckle, of course Adora never even noticed. "You're such an idiot."

There's no hint of amusement in Adora's face, only pure, unadulterated admiration, and Catra's face goes slack. After all this time, after all that they've done to each other, all that Catra's done to her, she can't-

"I love you, too."

Relief passes through her body in waves as she processes those words, and the only thing she can do is take Adora's face in her hands and kiss her. She's weak in her arms, and their lips are rough, but its the best sensation she's ever felt. Adora wants her. Really wants her the way she wants Adora, and even though they might die here, at least they can do it together, that she won't have to find some way to make it without Adora.

She can feel calm tingles of magic, like she felt on Krytis, roll through her body as Adora transforms into She-Ra in her arms. She braces herself for what she knows is coming, digging her hands tighter into Adora's face and pressing harder onto her lips, but nothing could prepare her for the brute force that the Heart of Etheria struck her with. White light blinded her vision and noise consumed her entire body for what felt like hours.

When it finally stopped, she was no longer holding Adora, but shuddering on the floor. She could feel Adora's hand on her face, and knew she must be worried about her, asking her if she was all right, but all she could her was muffled rumbling and a tinny ring in her right ear. She groaned out "Go, I'll be alright, you've got a universe to save," before batting away Adora's hand. She missed it, but she knew Adora had more important things to worry about than tending to her. Really, she'd be alright.

It seemed Adora knew she had bigger things to worry about, or at least she knew she wasn’t going to get Catra to accept any ministrations, because she just pressed a kiss to Catra’s forehead before walking away to deal with Horde Prime.

Once it had been several seconds since Catra had felt She-Ra’s rumbling footsteps, Catra peeled her eyes open, wincing at the bright light. Neither the muffling nor the ringing had subsided, but it had only been a few minutes, and that was a traumatic blast. Everything would be fine. Besides, She-Ra could fix anything physically wrong with her. She had brought her back from the dead! What was a little head trauma?

Using the wall as a crutch she stumbled her way out of the Crystal Castle, and what greeted her was beyond belief. Long-barren patches of dirt were now sprawling with grass and flowers and trees, and the air sparkled with golden particles of magic. She had always thought of Etheria as just a rock that she just happened to have inhabited, never as something to be cherished, and never so beautiful as this. That was what Adora did, though. Made ugly things beautiful, evil things good. If she was able to work her magic on Catra, what she could do to Etheria should have been no surprise.

As she rounded a rock face into a clearing she saw Frosta and Perfuma fawning over Scorpia. Shit, Scorpia. She had seen Catra now, there was no avoiding an awkward reunion. Catra approached sheepishly, a hand coming up to reflexively rub her now bare neck.

“Hey, Scorpia. Look, I -- ” Before she could get anything out she was swept up into Scorpia’s arms. Catra didn’t need to be able to hear to know what she was saying at that moment. “You know I’m a hugger.”

The real problem came after Perfuma and Frosta tackled them. As Catra stumbled out of the heap of affection, she bounced from face to face, trying to keep up with what they were saying, but it was all jumbled and unrecognizable alongside the ringing. She was lucky she’d been so standoffish the last 3 years, or maybe her silence and uncomfortable, withdrawn stance might have drawn more notice.

Luckily, she soon spotted Adora walking away from everyone to a break in the clearing, and she took her excuse to scamper off to join her. She couldn’t help but beam as she took in Adora’s wonder at the new Etheria. How did she ever deserve someone like her?

“Adora?” She hoped her voice didn’t have too much croak left in it. She didn’t want to do anything to spoil Adora’s mood. It must not have, based on the look of endearment on Adora’s face as she watched Catra approach. She took Adora’s outstretched hands, and her smile widened as she was tugged close. She hoped Adora would think she was closing her eyes, instead of lowering them to her lips to try and avoid detection.

“It’s ~~covert~~ over. ~~She's~~ He's ~~caught~~ gone”

“Good riddance.” Catra tenses, but Adora’s expression doesn’t shift. Success. If four words were that difficult, she can’t imagine trying to have a whole conversation. Thank god her friend (girlfriend?) is She-Ra. This will be over in no --

Suddenly she’s being body slammed onto the ground by two people, and she’s about to tear their eyes out, but she can feel Adora’s chest rumbling with laughter. It must be Glimmer and Bow. She needs to calm down, she’s safe now. But how can she really feel safe when she can’t even tell a friendly attack from a deadly one. She really hopes they head back to the castle soon so she can finally have Adora heal her and get this over with.

* * * * *  
They did not, in fact, get back to the castle soon. It turns out preventing the end of the universe warrants some celebration, and they didn’t end up stumbling back to the castle until well into the early hours of the morning. Again, Catra’s aloofness and lasting Horde reputation, along with no one else being able to hear due to the volume of the party, saved her from any true mishap. She still didn’t want to ruin Adora’s happy moment, she knew that she’d been carrying the stress from the war heavily as well, and she deserved a break. They even danced a few times, much to the delight of her new friends. Catra could feel a little bubble of happiness in her chest as well, it was hard not to with Adora smiling down at her like she’d saved the universe for her alone, but anxiety still burnt at the edges. She felt disoriented and overwhelmed. She just wanted this to be over with.

When they finally got to Adora’s room, Adora immediately flopped onto the bed, and before Catra could begin to curl up at the end she opened her arms for Catra to climb inside, which she did gratefully. As she buried her face into Adora’s chest she could feel Adora mumbling something into the top of her head. Assuming it was just mindless words of affection, Catra hummed intermittently, purring contentedly as Adora stroked her hair. It was only when Adora pulled away from her that Catra realized she expected a substantive response.

“Catra, are -- li -- ing -- me?” Adora’s face was drawn up in confusion, and Catra felt bad about not telling her sooner, but she also really didn’t know when she could have.

“Uh, I sorta haven’t been able to really, um, listen to anything today. The Heart of Etheria must have, um, really done a number on me.” Why was she so nervous, like she’d done something wrong?

“Catra! Why di -- you t-- me? Oh st--s, you’re -- much pain and I was too s--f--sh and c-- --p in all the exc--m-- to noti--! What’s wro-- --th me!”

Oh, that’s why. Even all jumbled, she could tell that Adora felt this was her fault.

“Adora, don’t blame yourself! I’m the one who hid it, I wanted you to enjoy yourself! Besides, you can just heal me and then we can sleep it off and in the morning it’ll be like nothing happened!” She wished the smile on her face were a bit less unsure, but the worry on Adora’s face dampened, so she was pleased. “Okay,” Adora replied, and outstretched her hand, summoning the sword.

After a flash of light, She-Ra was now looking down at Catra with an intense gaze. “Lay d--” she asked, and Catra couldn’t suppress the shudder as She-Ra’s massive hands clasped her cheeks. She peered into the intense glow of She-Ra’s eyes as the healing magic washed over her. The ringing finally subsided, but when she saw Adora smiling down at her, the world was still muffled. She-Ra had revived Catra from the brink of death, surely she could fix a simple ruptured eardrum.

But, no. Of course not. Of course Catra was permanently, irreparably, deaf.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a note that the way I am writing Catra is based on my own sensory issues that are a result of my ADD , I am not deaf and I do not speak for the Deaf community! I'm learning more ASL and Deaf culture at uni right now, but please if you are Deaf/educated and have corrections or suggestions, please let me know!


End file.
